Larry Nassar

Lawrence Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former sports medicine physician.

For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team, where he used his position to exploit and sexually assault hundreds of young athletes.

Nassar was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan in 1963.

In 1978, he began working as a student athletic trainer for the women's gymnastics team at North Farmington High School at age 15 on the recommendation of his older brother Mike, who was an athletic trainer at the school.

Nassar graduated from North Farmington High School in 1981.

He studied kinesiology at the University of Michigan, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1985.

During this time, he worked for the university's football and track and field teams.

Nassar began working as an athletic trainer for the USA Gymnastics national team in 1986.

In 1988, Nassar began working with John Geddert at Twistars, a gymnastics training club.

In 1993, Nassar graduated as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

He began working as a team doctor at Holt High School in 1996.

He served as the national medical coordinator for USA Gymnastics from 1996 until 2014.

He completed his residency training in family practice at St. Lawrence Hospital before completing a fellowship in sports medicine in 1997.

He began working as an assistant professor at MSU's Department of Family and Community Medicine in the College of Human Medicine in 1997, where he earned $100,000 a year.

Nassar is listed as a co-author on at least six research papers on the treatment of gymnastics injuries.

Female athletes have stated they complained to authorities - including various employees at Michigan State University - about Nassar's behavior starting in at least 1997, with some athletes stating abuse occurred in 1994 but USA Gymnastics did not take action against him until 2015.

According to court filings and interviews, Maggie Nichols and her coach, Sarah Jantzi, reported Nassar to USA Gymnastics officials on June 17, 2015, after the coach overheard Nichols and another gymnast talking about Nassar's behavior.

In 2016, Nassar was charged with sexually assaulting at least 265 young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.

His victims included numerous Olympic and United States women's national gymnastics team gymnasts.

In September 2016, USA Gymnastics cut ties with Nassar "after learning of athlete concerns".

On September 20, 2016, The Indianapolis Star had reported that Rachael Denhollander and another former gymnast had accused Nassar of sexual abuse.

After having been reassigned from clinical and teaching duties in August, Nassar was fired by Michigan State University on September 20, 2016.

Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on December 7, 2017, after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and tampering with evidence on July 11, 2017.

In February 2017, three former gymnasts, Jeanette Antolin, Jessica Howard, and Jamie Dantzscher, gave an interview for 60 Minutes in which they said that Nassar had sexually abused them.

They also alleged that the "emotionally abusive environment" at the national team training camps run by Béla and Márta Károlyi, at the Karolyi Ranch near Huntsville, Texas, gave Nassar an opportunity to take advantage of the gymnasts and made them afraid to speak up about the abuse.

Rachael Denhollander, one of the first women to accuse Nassar publicly, said in court in May 2017 that Nassar had sexually abused her on five doctor's visits in 2000 when she was 15 years old.

In May 2017, victim impact statements during pre-trial hearings, sentencing, and later interviews, several victims described Nassar's modus operandi: after having gained a girl's trust and friendship, he would insert his ungloved finger into her vagina during physical therapy, describing this as normal "pressure point" therapy for pain relief.

On some of these occasions a parent was in the room, unaware of what happened.

In October 2017, Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney, using the hashtag on Twitter, said that Nassar had repeatedly molested her from 2008, when she was 13 years old, until she retired from the sport in 2016.

Maroney subsequently filed a lawsuit against Nassar, Michigan State University, the United States Olympic Committee, and USA Gymnastics.

The lawsuit accused USA Gymnastics of covering up the sexual abuse by requiring her to sign a non-disclosure agreement in her $1.25 million settlement.

Maroney's attorney John Manly called Nassar a "pedophile doctor".

In November 2017, Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman said during a 60 Minutes interview, that Nassar had also sexually abused her, when she was 15 years old.

Gabby Douglas sent a tweet saying that "dressing in a provocative/sexual way incites the wrong crowd."

She was criticized for it by fellow Olympic teammate Simone Biles and others, who interpreted the tweet as criticism of Raisman and "victim-shaming".

On January 24, 2018, Nassar was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years in Michigan State Prison, after pleading guilty in Ingham County to seven counts of sexual assault.

On February 5, 2018, he was sentenced to an additional 40 to 125 years in Michigan State Prison after pleading guilty to an additional three counts of sexual assault in Eaton County.

On the orders of the judge in charge of the federal case, his state prison sentences are to run consecutively with his federal sentence, ensuring a de facto sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Nassar will be transferred to a Michigan state prison when he is released from federal custody; his two state sentences will be served concurrently.

He is a central figure of the 2020 film Athlete A, a documentary about the scandal.